Dow Computer error today before close

The DOW Jones Company has confirmed a computer back up happened about an hour before close. They flipped on back up computers about 5 minutes before close, causing all the back up to go through at once and cause the end of the day rapid drop.

The DOW was actually down 416 today it just wasnt down 200 all at once at the close.

The sudden, sharp decline by the Dow Jones Industrial Average shortly before 3 p.m. Eastern time today was triggered by a tabulation delay by Dow Jones data systems, which calculates the average. There was a temporary lag in calculation of the 30 large-stock average due to a surge in order flows as the market continued to tumble in afternoon trading, much like a clogged pipe. Just before 3 p.m., Dow Jones Indexes switched over to a backup system to calculate the average, which nearly instantly registered the huge move.

The glitch wasnât the cause of the decline, but it did cause the drop to register far more quickly than it otherwise would have. Other indexes fell at the same time, but more gradually. Some traders noticed a discrepancy between futures contracts tied to the Dow industrials and the index, which directly tracks the stocks. Usually, the futures contracts closely track the overall average.

âThere was a huge disconnect between the Dow futures and the Dow averageâ of about 200 points, said Brian Williamson, an equity trader at Boston Company Asset Management.

what's the big news here basically. all they are saying is that there was an outage and hence the gap showing on data feeds. the decline did happen. and it was so wide scale that it clogged their system.